Stellar vs Ripple

This is one of the most asked questions in the cryptocurrency world as both blockchains are very similar and both projects were created by the same person. Ripple and Staller are both trying to facilitate fast and safe cross border transactions.

Viewed at the macro level, there are pretty much differences.

Stellar decided to decentralize it’s validated nodes (doesn’t control them like Ripple) but consolidated (read: centralized) voting rights to prevent forks. Ripple simply decided to manage this risk on the front end by centralizing their validator nodes but at the very least, they can decentralize those now that they’re established. That’s unlike Stellar, who will now never be able to decentralize voting because its critical to preventing hard forks in SCP.

Stellar is a platform and offers smart contracts, dapps, which Ripple does not offer (yet).

Stellar has live payments set up to the Philippines (from Europe). There are efforts in motion to set up routes into a few African countries and many more plans in the works. On the other hand, Ripple is a for-profit body aiming to create a payments network with large financial institutions.

Ripple has raised close to $100 million in funding, which has been invested in a team of almost 200 people including some fintech heavy hitters and known executives. In comparison, Stellar has raised far less money and has a small team of around 20 people (albeit a relative all-star team).Stellar has flown under the radar to some extent and hasn’t had much of a marketing push behind them. Conversely, Ripple has used part of their capital to create publicity and make Ripple a household name.

In the end analysis, Stellar and Ripple are not direct competitors. Despite the somewhat contentious nature of their relationship, they serve different markets and feature different technology. But whether either will truly land among the lunar dust, that’s going to take more time and a lot more work.